December 21, 2024

What is happening in Kerala is disgusting and dangerous. There is a temple that had for ages disallowed women of menstruating age from entering the sanctum sanctorum. The Supreme Court was petitioned by rights activists against this blatant discrimination. The court passed orders that said that the temple authorities could not prevent any devotee from entering the garbha-griha on any grounds. After that, the Hindu right had swung into action and is now using all kinds of strong-arm tactics to prevent young women and activists from entering the temple. This goes against the Supreme Court order and shows the contempt they have for the rule of law.

The Telegraph has put a picture of Hindu right-wing activists throwing stones at the police and rightly asked why are such stone throwers called terrorists in Kashmir but not in Kerala. That aptly sums up the situation in the state. The Supreme Court has time and again said in its orders that whenever a long-held religious or social custom comes into conflict with individual rights as guaranteed by the Constitution, the latter will always prevail. Going by this, the court had ordered that the temple authorities cannot prevent women who want to enter the temple. But the Travancore Dewasam Board (TDB) and the thantris, backed by the Hindu right, have till now subverted the order.

While this is not to support outdated religious or social customs or perpetuate myths about menstruation (in this case chiefly that menstruating women are impure and hence unfit to perform puja), it is also true that some Hindu women still hold these beliefs and voluntarily refrain from entering temples and even kitchens during this period, while some are prevented from doing so by family elders. But what the Sabarimala temple is doing is putting a blanket ban on women of menstruating age which is discriminatory and prevents them from worshipping the deity even when they are not menstruating. In any case, the decision when to visit the temple should be theirs entirely. The Hindu right is doing a disservice to Hinduism by adopting these disruptive tactics and the Centre is playing a dangerous political game by allowing them to do so.